Thanksgiving Scorecard

Rebecca and I did it: Thanksgiving without any disasters. To be clear, I provided half the labor, Rebecca was all the brains behind the operation. But now I think I could manage it myself next time. Here's the scorecard:

*Number of days spent shopping and cooking: 3+. (No wonder I've never done this before.)
*Number of people fed: 18. Three tables fit end to end on the patio.
*Number of countries of origin of the people: 5 at least.
*Size of turkey: 10.6 kg (23 lb) Not bad for my first co-responsibility for cooking one!
*Dish that generated the most approval from the first-timers: sweet potatoes with pecans (the pecans did it.)
*Dish that most people never heard of before but liked a lot: cornbread.
*Dish that I am most psyched to now know how to make: cranberry sauce (did one regular, one spicy chutney. Too easy!)
*Amount of food left over: almost half. Housemate Elizabeth got an oyster feast (10 dozen!) and made other appetizers, so it was bound to happen.
*Number of pies eaten: 3 (Peter - I'll make you a pumpkin one when I am there this summer - I'm much better at it now!)


Bonus: after the turkey was in the oven, the potatoes mashed and the green beans snapped, I got to go for half an hour of snorkeling below the house in the clearest water I've yet seen here. Saw the same 7 foot long wobbegong shark that I saw last weekend napping under a rock, and got followed around for awhile by a 2+ foot long blue grouper that hoped I might feed it. You know, typical Thanksgiving stuff.